Flying Home
by Mad-like
Summary: Here's my alternate ending to "On My Way".  Don't worry, a happy ending was had by all.  With the possible exception of Finn Hudson.


Alice McKenna sat at the counter of the Courthouse Diner, her Kindle propped in front of her. Her mother would kill her if she saw this, Alice reading a book while the diner was open. But her mother's not here, is she? And the diner is not exactly packed with customers. In fact, there's more staff here than customers. Staff 2, Alice and her boyfriend Tim who's in the kitchen. Customers 1, the blonde who's consumed one cup of coffee. An hour she's been sitting there and all she's purchased was one cup of coffee. $2.00 for a cup of coffee, maybe .50 for a tip. Alice figured she might as well get started on her homework, no point in pushing the pie. Again. The girl's just sitting there, looking at college paperwork. Alice peeked when she refilled her coffee cup. Yale. Well la de da!

Alice looked at Tim cleaning the kitchen. He must be really bored if he's cleaning without being nagged about it. Watching him bend over to put something on a low shelf reminded her of the fun they could be having. Alice decided to was time to get rid of the blonde.

"Would you like anything else?" she asked putting the check on the table. "We close in a couple of minutes, at 5."

"Jeez, it's that late?" The girl looked at her phone and fired off a text. Then she pulled a $5 bill from her purse.

"I'll be right back with your change." Alice said.

"That's okay. Keep the change." The girl said.

"Thank you very much." Alice watched the girl in the ugly pink dress leave the diner.

* * *

><p>"Where are you?"<p>

"On my way." Quinn texted back.

"Where are you?"

"Just got here. Parked across the street. Wait for me."

Quinn saw a flash of pink and white at the courthouse window. Like a flower, Rachel the snowy white center surrounded by pink petals. She made big show of getting out of the car she'd just gotten into 10 seconds earlier. Her timing was perfect, late enough to stop the wedding but with a plausible excuse.

She plugged in her ipod and silently cursed Mercedes Jones. Mercedes had a real passive aggressive streak that wasn't apparent to most people. True, most people ignored her so she had no reason to show them that side of herself but Quinn was trying to be nice, trying to repair her bridges before she left Lima. Since she was the one that dropped Mercedes after Beth was born that meant Quinn was the one that had to make up.

"_That's nice and all Quinn, but we don't have a damned thing in common. You don't like anything I like."_

"_Sure I do."_

"_What kind of music do I like?"_

"_R&B."_

"_Why does everybody think that?" she asked with a sigh. An overly dramatic sigh in Quinn's opinion. "Just 'cause I'm black?"_

"_No. Just 'cause you sing it all the time."_

_Mercedes looked at her like she was crazy when Quinn knew that her logic was impeccable. "Whatever. For your information I like jazz. Instrumental jazz. I'm particularly fond of Lionel Hampton. Ever hear of him?"_

"_No."_

"_See? That's why we're not friends."_

Normally Quinn wouldn't put up with such irrational behavior, but she'd heard from excellent sources, well Rachel, that Mercedes had been really hurt by Quinn's dumping her last year. Quinn was trying to be a better person these days and she understood all about putting up walls as a defense mechanism. She'd decided to cut Mercedes some slack and therefore Quinn found herself standing on the corner, listening to Lionel Hampton playing the vibraphone. _Flying Home_ it was called and it was pretty catchy. She could get to like this. She was bouncing to the music, watching Rachel wave widely from the window, when she stepped off the curb.

She never even saw the minivan.

* * *

><p>"What the fuck was that?" Alice asked, wriggling out from under Tim in the diner booth.<p>

"Nothing. Your imagination."

"Yeah, right. Let me take a peek."

"I've got lots for you to peek at."

"Jesus, somebody could have just been killed."

Tim sat up and pulled his tshirt back on.

Alice ran to the corner where the blonde was sitting on the curb, dazed. She didn't look seriously hurt but her leg was bleeding. Alice tried to help her stand.

"Owww! Damn that hurts." The girl sat down again. From the courthouse across the street a parade of people streamed out, led by a bride and presumably bridesmaids, or else a horrifically dressed singing group.

"Quinnie!" they all yelled. The bride grabbed her and rocked her like a baby. She crooned and stroked her hair. "Quinnie, my poor, poor baby." Then she kissed Quinnie and Quinnie didn't seem to mind it at all. Alice decided Quinnie would probably live.

"Jesus, Rachel, she doesn't need CPR!" A tall boy said.

"Bring her down the street, the diner is open."

Mercedes noticed her friend Alice for the first time. "Alice!"

"Mercedes? What are you doing here?"

"A wedding."

"A gay wedding?" They both looked at a blood stained Rachel and Quinn kissing like World War Two had just ended.

"It wasn't supposed to be. But actually, that explains a lot."

The bride ripped off part of her dress to make a bandage for Quinnie. The group was made up of mostly high school kids but two older men helped her hobble down the street. Tim was pissed off about the sudden change in plans but Alice thought maybe they'd make some money this afternoon after all.

"She got hit by a car?" Alice asked, putting on a pot of coffee.

"More like she bounced off a car. She was standing on the curb, jamming to whatever she was listening to, and walked right into the side of a car. Luckily the car was barely moving."

"Looks like she'll be okay. Her name's Quinnie?"

"No, it's Quinn. Classy, huh?"

"I guess. She's going to Yale after all."

"How do you know that? You don't go to McKinley."

"Tim and I would have been out of here an hour ago but she wouldn't leave. Just sat there filling out her roommate assignment form."

"For an hour?"

"Right? I couldn't believe it either. She left a nice tip, but it was on a small check. Speaking of which, you wanna go into the waitress business? I can't handle all this on my own. Just help us take the orders, then you can socialize."

The boys were gathered around Quinn, staring at her leg. Finn's mom declared it a cut and a bruise. Stay off it and if it still hurt in the morning get an x-ray. Then she ordered a steak and tried to calm Finn down. One of the men, apparently the bride's father, offered to pay for whatever was ordered. He called it a wedding reception and looked extremely pleased with himself. Alice was pretty pleased herself, this group would eat a lot.

* * *

><p>While taking orders at his table, Mercedes finally came to Sam, who glared at her.<p>

"Don't think of it as talking to me. Think of it as ordering dinner from a badly dressed waitress." Mercedes said.

"Well in that case I'd like a hamburger, medium, no pickles or tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and extra ketchup. And please put the mayo on the side."

"Anything else your majesty?"

"Yes, now that you mention it. The hamburger, was he a happy cow, before?" He said with a hint of a smile, the first one she'd seen from him in two weeks. "You know, before it happened?"

* * *

><p>"How do you know Alice?" Kurt asked. He moved over to make space for Mercedes, a space next to Sam.<p>

"She goes to my church. So does Tim. I knew her folks owned a diner, turns out this is it."

"Small world." He moved closer to Mercedes, forcing her to move closer to Sam. "And they don't mind the Britt-Santana show?" He nodded towards to two girls making out in a different booth. "It's not against their religion?"

"They don't care about that, her brother's gay."

"So if Blaine and I..."

"Have at it."

"But that would be rude, you with nobody in kissing distance."

Blaine laughed and started eating a french fry. Kurt started at the other end of the fry. Sam stared at the plate of fries as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world.

"I can go sit somewhere else if I'm making you lose your appetite." she said softly.

"You are the most aggravating person I know."

"Aggravating?" That's a new one she thought.

"Aggravating. Why do you have to be so nice? Other girls, they just kick a guy to the curb and go on about their business like it never happened. But not you. You had to go and feel sorry for Shane, which made me feel kinda sorry for the guy. That's what I call aggravating."

"Sorry for being so nice. I'll try harder to avoid it in the future." She moved closer to him.

"See that you do." he said with a broad smile. "Just practice on somebody other than me." He picked up a french fry. "Come and get it."


End file.
